Patients have given pharmacy flu vaccinations a glowing report, with 97 per cent of those surveyed by Novartis Vaccines over the past two years saying they would return to community pharmacy for their vaccination the following year.

Ninety four per cent of the 10,476 patients surveyed said they would use pharmacy for other vaccination services such as travel clinics. And 95 per cent thought that their flu vaccine had been administered well in the pharmacy.

The survey results also revealed that while the majority of patients receiving pharmacy flu vaccinations were not eligible for an NHS-funded vaccine, 13 per cent of those vaccinated in the 2010-11 season were in NHS "at risk" groups. And more than a third of the patients surveyed over the 2009-10 and 2010-11 flu seasons said they would not have received the vaccine if it hadn't been offered by community pharmacy.

Patients using pharmacy services cited the convenience of the location and the fact that they could receive the vaccine on the same day as the main reasons for them doing so.

The Novartis Vaccines findings came from a combined analysis of feedback from patients who had received their flu vaccine at pharmacies including Superdrug, the Co-operative Pharmacy and AAH customers in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 flu seasons.

Gathering evidence on pharmacy services in this way would be increasingly important to help get services commissioned in future, said Novartis UK market development manager Graham Thoms.  "We see these services developing more, and more pharmacies getting commissioned as an NHS service," he said.

Novartis Vaccines has trained more than 2,500 pharmacists, who have delivered 250,000 flu vaccines to date. The also company provides live training events and an interactive training programme for pharmacists wanting to offer the service.

For top tips on how to deliver your flu vaccination service, click here.